Owen Bell

Since childhood, I have been involved in all the Arts one way or another, spending my working life as an illustrator, semi-professional musician, folk dancer and amateur actor, but it wasn't until around age 50 that I began writing. If I have a 'Claim to Fame' it is as principal illustrator of 'Thomas the Tank Engine' between 1985 and 1999, having revamped the illustration style and creating artwork for the worldwide merchandise, including around 40 books (although I didn't write them).

For the last 15 years I have been working exclusively digitally and my style of art is hyper-photorealistic. I have designed postage stamps for countries world-wide for the WWF Stamp Collection and more recently for Australia Post, the subject matter, once again, wildlife.

In 1997 I began writing my own book, which has taken until 2020 to complete, and now covers 7 volumes. I wrote 'Sentinels Of Sol' with the help and guidance of my 'alter-ego' 'Eugene L'Estrange' to whom I have credited as principal author, as I'm convinced it would never have happened without him. What gives the work a unique 'flavour' is the fact that I am autistic, being diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome in my mid '60's. This is expressed in my writing, as it is with my artwork, in the acute attention to detail, complex, multi-layered plotlines, quirky characters and wordplay. I have been told it is 'like nothing else out there' and I take that as a compliment. To those who know and like my Thomas the Tank Engine art, I should point out that my book is not illustrated and steam trains do not feature heavily in the story, although Thomas gets a veiled nod in a line of comic dialogue...